Light vs. Dark

[Tigersong]

Okay, so I've never much cared for the dark side/light side system in Knights of the Old Republic. I thought maybe I'd spice it up a bit by changing it into a battle mechanic.

The rules are fairly straightforward (I hope). Gaining points in Calm reduces the number of Rage points a character has, and the other way around. Calm makes light-side skills more effective; Rage does the same for dark-side skills. The totals for both attributes are reset at the end of each battle.

I like the idea, but I'd like some feedback and help with setting it up. Will it require new states? A skill each for charging up one's Rage and Calm stat? How do I make one decrease when the other increases? Also, I think it works well with the story as players can focus more on building relationships than the amount of dark or light points they're acquiring.

 

[Clord]

I think such system could use a skilled scripter to be made properly. You want after all make it easy for player to understand and proper UI elements go long way for that.

 

[servantb7]

I think such system could use a skilled scripter to be made properly. You want after all make it easy for player to understand and proper UI elements go long way for that.

I agree that the User Interface aspect would be the most difficult. I'm sure you could manipulate the Calm/Rage balance itself fairly easily through variables, but making it easy for the user to see and be aware of would take some creative eventing or a script.

Hmm...if you don't want to make a script, here's an idea. You could use the MP/TP bars to measure calm/rage. Some moves increase your calm (MP) which allows you to use higher level Light Side skills. Some moves increase your Rage (TP) which allows you to use higher level Dark Side skills.

One other unrelated suggestion: You gotta put a wookie in your game. Wookies are amazing

 

[Tigersong]

I agree, Servant- Wookiees are amazing. Also it's nice to see another Christian on these forums.

Great minds think alike- I was also thinking I might use the engine's premade stats. Hopefully the whole system won't be too hard to implement.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

Galv has a script that attaches elements to skills and makes them increase the an element by using, let's say a fire skill. You can set up the skill to at the same time decrease the opposing element (ice). It creates a window in the battle system to track the elements. Pretty nifty script actually.

 

[Tigersong]

By any chance, do you know the name of the script in question?

 

[Mouser]

I agree, Servant- Wookiees are amazing. Also it's nice to see another Christian on these forums.

Great minds think alike- I was also thinking I might use the engine's premade stats. Hopefully the whole system won't be too hard to implement.

You can do that - I've pretty much rewritten the combat system for my game keeping the internal stat names the same to make life a little easier for me. The challenge for me is changing the GUI - what the player sees needs to be accurate. The best advice I can give you for scripting is study other people's scripts (this goes for coding in general - not just scripting). Learn and understand (grok) how people do what they did, and then figure out different ways to do the same thing, if possible, or else isolate and use just the final changes the scripts make.

Some algorithms are pretty universal (quicksort and things like that), others have a lot of variation to them.

An obvious point but I'll say it anyway - once you use a game's premade stat for something else, whatever the stat did is gone from the game, unless you find another way to include it.

 

[HumanNinjaToo]

@tigersong: element charge fields I believe. Its on the master script list and his own site

 

[Vinedrius]

It belongs to Ventwig actually, unless they are the same person.

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/10464-vts-elemental-charge-field-with-charge-skill-evolutions/

 

[Kyutaru]

Stick with MP/TP definitely, they're already blue and red too.  Main reason is that adjusting any type of combat system tool will make creating your game's skills that much harder.  Without using built-in tools, you'll need to monitor variables independently of the skill screen and that means a lot of work editing each skill with custom code.  You can modify TP easily by adding or subtracting on each skill usage using TP Cost and TP Gain on the skill screen.  MP can be done similarly as some skills restore MP.

If you want to modify them more directly, you can use the damage box to code special effects of skills, including reducing the user's HP, MP, TP, or any other stat.  For an explanation on how to do that, I recommend checking out the sticky called "How to make the most of custom formulae".